Thursday, November 25, 2010

HAPPY THANKSGIVING/Project 25-TwentyFive-25

First off, HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!!
What are your plans for the day? My family will be watching a bit of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV, going to watch an actual road race (tradition in our state) that will be passing by my Dad's office building, and then heading out to my grandparent's farm for time with aunts, uncles and many, many cousins.

Now, I have to be honest and say that thanksgiving IS NOT my favorite holiday. I don't like it very much at all (*gasp!) but I do have good reasons. Heres why:

I have a problem with people picking one day of the year to be thankful for what they have. That is just...so American! I believe that if we are thankful for the lives we have been given, the people we love, and the blessings God gives us that we should live like it 365. Not just one Thursday in November...I mean, it is a nice idea and I understand how it started but it has become very distorted. I feel like it should be a lifestyle and not a calendar holiday...

It seems to me that the whole idea of thankfulness has almost been lost in the commercialization of the holiday.You are SUPPOSED to be thankful for what you have, but it ends up being a holiday of greed for more. Think about it! What comes to mind when I say "Thanksgiving." For most Americans food is the first thing in their brains. A close second would be the day that comes after- Black Friday. As of when does being truly thankful for what God has provided involve gluttony and excessive shopping?

Reason three is a personal one. I am a vegetarian, so I don't eat the turkey and I just don't like cooked vegetables very much...I basically eat BREAD on thanksgiving, so it is a weird experience. But that reason doesn't really count, so just ignore it.

All in all, thanksgiving is a good day and we should be thankful for another year of life. We should be thankful for the freedom that we have in this nation. We should be thankful for the people around us and we should celebrate the love that we have for them. We should honor God by thanking him for his never-ending love and provision. I just wish we would do it more often...

All that being said I would like to introduce to you my latest idea.

"PROJECT 25-TWENTYFIVE-25"

What the heckito am I talking about? Well, as I was thinking about thankfulness and how I should do more of it on other days of the year I came up with little idea of how I could put it into practice. I realized there are a lot of people in my life who I am super grateful for.I am surrounded by awesome people who love me for who I am and encourage me into who God wants me to be. Those people mean so much to me and I don't know what I would do without them. But I also realized, while I am extremely inwardly appreciative of them, I very rarely thank them for what they do in my life. Ooooops. So I decided I would send some handwritten thank you notes. Twenty five of them, in between Thanksgiving (the 25th of November) and Christmas (the 26th of December) (see it all makes sense now!) Sounds like a lot, and maybe thank you notes are a little bit lame, but it is a good start. I want to honor those people who mean so much to me and a thank you note is a simple way to show some of my gratitude. Plus, who doesn't like REAL mail!?

Here is how I'll do it.

First, I formed a list of 25 people who need some thanking. But I cannot show you this list, as if you are on it that would be a surprise ruin-er. This post kind of ruins it too but...erase it from your memory if you think you might be someone I am thankful for. Ya'll know who you are...

Then I printed up a bunch these:

I am going to cut them out and include them in with the thank you card, just to give a bit of explanation to the recipient.

I took some thin cardboard (my came from the inside of a package of tights, but you could use like a cereal box or something) and traced out a stencil. Then I carefully cut out the letters (HARD STUFF! Rounded edges are no fun!) with a box cutter knife (because one lives in my desk... but you could use something more tame such as an exacto knife).

With put the stencil onto a blank note card (or you could make your own with paper. Be as facy as you want. I was going for "a simple thank you" look)and held it in place with a ...bobby pin (yup. I keep box cutters on my desk, but I could find no paper clips...). I took a sharpie and simply colored in the letters (spray paint crayons, pencils, markers, or just about anything else would be other options).

SUPER simple. Again, feel free to be more elaborate. I decided to let the card be plain and then have elaborate, heartfelt words inside.

That is all there is to it, friends. I am going to make a bunch of these and send 'em out. ANY ONE WANT TO JOIN ME? Any other particular ways you like to express thanks? I would love to hear about it!

Have a wonderful thanksgiving and don't forget to keep living in thanks the other days of the year!